"You have to be kidding me." I groaned.
I walked in the pouring rain to the bus stop, fiddling with my broken umbrella. I eventually gave up, accepting the fact that the rain would soak me. As I got onto the bus, people made way as they saw me, a completely dripping mess. An old lady even got up and offered me her seat after seeing how done with the world I was. I politely declined and explained to her how I was getting off at the next stop.
I watched the rain pelt the windows of the bus. It was currently September 1st, 9:32 a.m., and Physics 101 had started at 9:00. It was the first day of school. Of all the days, today was the day that my 42 year-old uncle decided to take my bike and use it without warning. This bike happened to be my one mode of transportation.
I had spent thirty minutes digging my room out and searching for any coins and fortunately, I had enough for one ride. Unfortunately, I missed the bus stop near my house and had to run behind the bus in order to get on it at the next stop.
As the bus came to an abrupt stop, I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and shot out of the bus. I ran another block until I got to my college campus. Then, I spent another ten minutes determining which building I was supposed to go into and then another twenty to actually get to the building.
I climbed up the stairway to the doorway of the large, modern building. And then I tripped on my cheap, wet Nikes and fell face first onto the hard, moist concrete.
Rubbing my now bruised forehead, I practically crawled to my classroom, trying to calm down my fast beating heart.
I did my best to fix myself up and slowly turned the handle. As I opened the door, everyone stared at me. I bit my lip as I felt a warmth fill my cheeks and adjusted my glasses.
"Would you like to tell me why you'd even bother to show up at the end of class, Mr..." The teacher began to say with his eyebrow lifted.
"Su Ju. My name is Su Ju." I managed to say in terrible Korean, avoiding eye contact with the teacher.
That's right.
My name was Su Ju.
Like "Super Junior."
My father was drunk when I came into this world. My mother had been recovering from the 'magic gas' as the doctors had put it, and my father would have to name me without her judgement.
He had intended to name me "Soju," a Korean alcoholic drink, but he had extremely sloppy handwriting and the doctors mistook the o as a u.
My mother is Chinese and married a Chinese man. They were never really good parents- they simply didn't care about me. They were always out, drinking and making love.
One night when I was five, my father went out to get some soju and apparently couldn't find it for 16 years.
My mother got remarried to some random Korean dude, who was actually decent at first. He taught me Korean and we shared some pleasant memories. However, everything changed when I entered High School. My step-father began to slowly disappear more and more and come back later and later.
After high school, I was accepted into one of Seoul's best colleges. My entire family - my step-father, mother, my biological father's brother, and I moved all the way to Seoul in order to obtain an excellent education. Just having that education could mean a job, wealth, and ultimate success.
Too bad I was late on the first day.
"Mr. Su Ju..." The professor pronounced it slowly, making me gulp. "Why do you bother to arrive when this lecture ends in twenty minutes?"
"I'm so sorry, my uncle took my only mode of transportation." I explained, bowing down.
The teacher stared at me with his brown eyes.
"Okay, you can take a seat over there. Address me as Mr. Kim." The man pointed at somewhere and went back to teaching.
That's it? A simple dismissal?
I let out a sigh of relief and scurried over to my seat. As soon as I sat down, I heard the girl next to me giggle. I blinked at her.
"I'm sorry, your name just reminds me of Super Junior." She whispered. I smiled back at her and laughed.
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
"Would you like me to call you just Ju?" The girl asked.
"Actually, I'd prefer it if you called me by my entire name, Su Ju." I replied.
"Why?"
"It just sounds better." I explained. I took out my notebook and did my best to copy down everything on the smart board. Despite my extreme sleepiness, I managed to stay awake and pay attention.
As the first day of college progressed, I befriended around twenty people.
I wish. That girl from Physics 101 was literally the only classmate I talked to.
People called me a social butterfly back in High School, but this was an entirely new place, an entirely new world.
Before I knew it, the school day ended and I quickly got out of the campus and made my way through the streets of Seoul.
I sat up a little station which consisted of my book bag, a paper plate on the ground, and a guitar in my hands.
I let melodious Korean fly from my mouth as I slowly trickled my fingers across the nylon strings.
While I lacked skill when it came to speaking Korean, singing was a different case. I felt a new energy, and the foreign language would suddenly become clear.
The world is an odd place.
After an exhausting two hours, I picked up the paper plate and counted how much I earned from my performance.
Around 53,300 won (~49 USD). For a performance from such a lacking singer like me, this was a large amount.
I quickly cleaned up my station and rushed back to the bus in order to get to my job.
I worked at a 24/7 barista and I had part of the evening shift, 8:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m. Even though it was tiring to stay up every night, the barista was like another home for me. There, I had friends who talked to me, whether they were my co workers or customers. However, my boss absolutely hated me. But their company was desperate for a worker and I was desperate for a job, so I ended up taking it. While I enjoyed my job most of the time, the pay was pretty low. There aren't that many job opportunities for a 21 year old like me though.
I had a pretty packed schedule, and traveling around just built up time. For the next week, I was unable to spend any time by myself. I was constantly working, no matter what.
At the end of the week, I was ready to crash.
I had just got to the barista and was ready to work.
As I put on my apron and hat, I was greeted by my co workers and I quickly got to work.
A couple of hours passed, and I heard the bell at the front ring, indicating a customer. It was quite late, around 10:00 p.m., so I wasn't expecting any customers. I quickly ran to the cashier and mentally groaned. There, was a group of college students, all with their laptops and red eyes, demanding more cups of coffee. I sighed and began to fill up at least ten different cups of coffee.
Of course they all had to have special flavoring and additions.
Of course they had to have different sizes.
And yes, it was extremely important that I spell the name "Ariana" with one 'n,' not two.
At around 11, my flip phone began to ring.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Su Ju?"
"Yes? How may I help you?"
"Your mother is in critical condition and she needs to go through brain surgery immediately. However, she was refusing to go through the progress so we had to strap her down to the table. She is currently screaming for you and we're calling you in order to see if you can do something to perhaps calm her down."
My eyes widened as I felt fear shoot through my body. I quickly jumped over the counter and called a cab. I ordered them to bring me to the hospital where my mother was.